Classic EP photos

Trip and I are doing some web/blog redesign at the moment and we've unearthed some classic images.


This car started it all. Amy wrecked it, EP bought it and the rest is history.


In September 2004, Trip, Alex, LJ and I headed to Costa Rica for an exploratory mission. The most epic of our attempted descents was the Terrazu river - a classic bridge to bridge according to maps and local beta. We came across this 50 footer a couple of miles in, but had to hike out because the river was flash flooding. The next day we hiked back in, LJ and I ran it and we continued downstream, only to get shut down at an unscoutable gorge. We hiked out, ending the mission.


On the same trip to Costa, LJ and I hiking in to a first D with a couple of local guides.


LJ is very regularly down to fire it up BIG. Trip grabbed these frames of LJ running La Paz, a 50 footer into this 80 footer.


Back in the NW, Conner snapped this shot of Trip running the 80 foot Coosa Falls, one hour east of Eugene. This was used as the Mission Epicocity DVD back cover.


Kyle Dickman shot this photo of me on Eagle Creek, OR in the winter of 2005, my junior year at the University of Oregon and the last time there was a true "EP house" (featured on LVM cribs y'all.)


Hope you enjoyed this look into the EP archives. All photos are copywrite Epicocity Project and are not to be used without permission. Cheers!

Wraping up the college tour

The college tour is beginning to wind down. We are in Athens, GA finishing up the UGA stop this evening and then heading to Charlotte, NC for our final stop this Thursday at Davidson College.

This past weekend we had our most fun stop of the tour at UT in Knoxville. We did a film festival and pool clinic Thursday night and went to the UT/Arkansas football game on Saturday afternoon. The game, attended by 104,000 fans was a wild experience and we are very thankful to Brett Davis, the Outdoor Program Director, for organizing such a fun weekend for us.

The UT pool clinic was, without a doubt, the most fun kayak pool session I have ever been to. Check out a little highlight clip I threw together:




Full coverage of the tour is on Facebook at the eNRG Kayaking's Southeast College Tour group at: http://oregon.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6070208844

On Monday I'm flying to Oregon, spending the night and then heading to TX for Thanksgiving. After that, it's back to Portland for the next phase (still tbd.)

College Tour Video

Below is a commercial for the college tour and two video updates. Enjoy!

Commercial:


Update 1:


Update 2:

College Tour

Right now Dave, Sam and I are in Asheville, NC getting ready for our UNCA film festival. The tour has been amazing so far! We've made six college/university stops, one elementary school stop, one high school stop and one stop at a retail store in D.C.

Highlights...Ms. Moore's 2nd grade class at Little Bennett Elementary School was fun and made for some GREAT photos. Blacksburg, VA and UNC Charlotte had really good turnouts and great energy. And this past weekend Sam and I competed in our first ever Green Race, an event that absolutely blew us away. It's been really fun introducing so many college students to paddling and hanging around young, fun-loving people.










After a film fest and demo at UNCA tonight and tomorrow night, we are heading to the University of TN, University of GA and Davidson College. We are also likely going to make stops at one or two more elementary schools before the tour ends.

Back from PNG, Beginning of the College Tour

After a brief stop in Fiji, our crew made it back safely from PNG on Sunday Oct 7th. I took a couple of very busy layover days in Portland before catching a flight to D.C. to get organized for my fall gig, the eNRG Kayaking Southeast College Tour. My position on the tour is MC, token pro athlete, head of media relations and marketing coordinator.

We are stopping at about 15 colleges and universities from D.C. to Georgia promoting the sport of whitewater kayaking through film screenings and free kayak classes. Secondary focuses include promoting “conservation through recreation” and safe boating practices (wearing a lifejacket).

The gig’s being organized through Portland-based eNRG Kayaking and carried out by Dave Hoffman and myself. It’s a pretty sweet gig – we get to drive around a vehicle provided by Liquidlogic, hang out at college campuses showing cool films, teach people to paddle and spend tons of days on the water ourselves.

The primary online source of info is a Facebook group started by yours truly: http://oregon.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6070208844

Throughout the tour I will be updating the Facebook site with photos and video, so check back often to see how much fun we’re having. So far, we’ve stopped at Potomac Paddlesports, Garret College, Little Bennett Elementary School and Landon School for Boys. This weekend, we’re attending the Whitewater Symposium in western MD before heading south to VA Tech for Monday.

The first video content will hit Facebook in the next hour or so. Check back often for great multimedia updates!

Paradox of the Villagers

Looking into the village of remote New Britain is like looking back in time. Many villages feed their relatively small numbers almost exclusively with food grown in the village. The dwellings are constructed with lumber hand-milled by the locals with machetes and waterproofed with large leaves and plastic sheeting donated by the nearby oil palm company. Life is simple – a typical day involves waking up with the sun, spending the morning tending your garden and spending the afternoon with your family. When the sun goes down, you retire to your home and go to bed.

Many settlements are reachable only by arduous walks that take you across bridgeless river crossings and up and over steep, slippery ridges. The terrain is often so strenuous that finding a flat piece of train more than 50 meters long seems practically impossible. The extreme difficulty of passage means that travel through the region is done only infrequently. Recently though, as is expected, westerners have begun to slowly find their way into these small villages. Sometimes they are missionaries trying to “save souls” and sometimes they are explorers looking for caves or rivers. No matter what the goal of the outsiders, their impact is huge.

When people, who have been essentially isolated forever from the influence of global modernization see westerners laden with high tech clothing, gear and food, their expectations change. When once they only needed food, shelter and family to survive, now they believe that they need what the westerners have. Because there is no monetary economy in these remote areas, the people hike out of their villages to the nearest road, take a bus to the nearest town, get a job and start earning money to buy the things that they now believe essential.

The problem though, is that while they like having the money, they don’t like living in the towns. They don’t like working on the oil palm plantations where they can’t have their own garden because they live in a company housing development. Instead of living off of what they produce, they now have to buy everything they need. Unsatisfied, they dream of a perfect solution.

The solution that they believe is the answer to their problems unfortunately involves the destruction of their land. Because tribes and not the government own most of the land in New Britain, motivation for the government to develop infrastructure in remote areas is low. If roads are to be built, there are only two options – build it yourself or sell the right to remove timber from your land to a Malaysian logging company. As soon as a tribe tells the logging company that they can take timber from their land, the company will build a road to the area so that the timber can be easily extracted. Now, the people of the village can still live in their homes while making an income AND have a road, complete with hitch-hikeable vehicles that will take them to town and (unfortunately this is true) allow them to blow all of the money on the local brew, South Pacific lager. And what is even more unfortunate is that a lack of education among the people of these remote villages allows the logging companies to pay about one kena a tree and make about 300 kena profit off of it. (1 kena = approx 3 USD).

It’s a tough situation, but a situation that the people of Tuke are in right now. Some of the young men of the village have begun making the one days (for them) walk to the road and then hitchhiking the two hours ride to the town of Navo to take jobs for Hargy Oil Palm. And just recently the tribe agreed to sell the logging rights to a large chunk of their land for an alarming 80,000 kena. And after the loggers are done, the plan is to call in the gold miners to further extract wealth from the land.

So if you were to be a fly on the wall in Tuke for the next 10 years, you would be able to watch it transform from a remote mountain village to a logged and mined village with a road directly to it.

While we have a rest day between jungle crazyness, I want to take a moment to extend a HUGE thanks to Northwest River Supplies. Without their support, we would absolutely not have had the necessary gear to handle some of the situations we have encountered. Our NRS throwbags, pin kits, drybags and outerwear have carried us through multi-day river trips through rainy, rugged terrain and multi-pitch ascents and descents with loaded kayaks. Every member of our team has burned and blistered hands from spending hours and hours every day hauling boats up and lowering them down using our Pro Kayak Rescue bags and without them none of our first descents would have been possible.

The gear is amazing and the customer support is unparalleled. Thanks NRS.

From Canoe and Kayak Mag's Website

Just found this on Canoe and Kayak Magazine's Website...


"Conservation Through Exploration”
Papua New Guinea Expedition

In late August 2007, Epicocity Project team members Howard "Trip" Jennings, Kyle Dickman, Brian Eustis, Matt Fields Johnson, Andy Maser, and Scott Feindell joined a team of scientists and cavers for a six week exploration of the Hargy Caldera in New Britain, Papua New Guinea. This National Geographic expedition will give voice to the recommendations of the United Nations Environmental Fund that this area be conserved.
The Hargy Caldera and its surrounding rivers shape a landscape fed by 200 inches of annual rainfall on terrain that drops from 7000 feet to the sea in less than 20 miles. The unusual combination of geology and climate has created some of the planet’s wildest whitewater, most biologically diverse forests, and most culturally isolated locales. The expedition will involve three whitewater first descents (reached by foot and helicopter), exploration of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest cave system, collection of scientific data, and collaboration with local tribes. “It’s a daunting adventure and a story that will be captured on film, in magazine articles and photographs,” says Kyle Dickman, Epicocity Project Producer.
About the Epicocity Project Team:
Howard “Trip” Jennings, the owner and founder of the Epicocity Project, has led whitewater first descents and expeditions in 6 countries throughout North, Central and South America. His films have been accepted into Banff Film Festival’s World Tour, Telluride Film Festival and have gained critical acclaim in the kayaking world. The Conservation through Exploration project rolls together Trip’s passions for the environment, kayaking and exploration. The team he is collaborating with is the most qualified group he has worked with to date.
Kyle Dickman is a producer with the Epicocity Project and a freelance writer. Kyle brings with him extensive travel experience from exploratory trips in Central America, Europe and New Zealand, and wilderness skills honed by seven years whitewater kayaking and five years fighting first.
Brian Eustis recently returned from paddling the length of the Mekong River. Eustis’s film about this adventure, “The Mother of Waters”, was awarded Telluride’s Indomitable Spirit award and finished second in Banff Mountain Film Festivals People’s Choice award. He has logged first descents in China, led kayaking expeditions in Costa Rica and spends his weekends paddling his favorite backyard run, Washington’s Little White Salmon. Brian’s experience with foreign cultures and his skills on the water and with a camera make him an invaluable part of this expedition.
Andy Maser just finished production on a full-length documentary that analyzed Columbian culture. Andy has logged numerous first descents from Costa Rica to Argentina and recently placed second at the Collegiate Nationals for kayaking. This will be his fourth international kayaking expedition. He is a recent graduate from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communications.
Matt Fields Johnson is joining the expedition as a photographer, a kayaker, and an expert in ropes and rescue. Matt is studying photography in Bowling Green State University. He has been on photography assignments in Antarctica, Ecuador and Argentina. When Matt’s not shooting photos he’s climbing hard traditional routes all over the world, or paddling his backyard run on the Great Falls of the Potomac River.
Scott Feindel has been paddling since he was 8 years old. He began developing his skills, and still is, on rivers all across North America, South America, Norway and New Zealand. Scott's experience on the water and his ability to maintain a positive attitude in high stress situations make Scott an integral part of this expedition.

Find out more about the Conservation through Exploration- Papua New Guinea Expedition and the Epicocity Project at www.epicocity.com

Looking forward to life after PGN

We still have a bit over two weeks left to destroy ourselves in PGN, but I already have a great gig lined up for when I get back.

Portland based eNRG Kayaking is organizing a 15 stop Mid Atlantic/Southeast college tour in conjunction with the American Canoe Association. We are going to show up at each stop, conduct a film festival and offer a free kayak class. Some will be in university pools and some (as in the case of Frostburg State and UNC Charlotte) will be in whitewater parks. We will also be attending whitewater symposiums, an industry trade show and a legendary kayak race and a swiftwater rescue course. All events will be free and all will be a great time.

Dave Hoffman and I will be conducting the tour and we will be joined mid way by Sam Drevo, fresh from Nepal. As soon as the schedule is finalized I will post it here.

The mission was a complete success, BUT...

Because we have some things worked out with National Geographic, I'm not allowed to publish anything before they have a chance to refuse it first. It's called a Right of First Refusal and we all signed it so...

I did type up a description though (it's pretty wild) and am emailing it to people who are interested. If you are, shoot me an email at amaser@mac.com and I'll send it to you. Basically though, we explored a cave, paddled a bunch of crazy whitewater and ended up at the ocean. Now we're all totally haggered and resting for a couple of days before the next mission. Our whitewater adventures are not nearly over and we have some cool stuff in our sights.


Sorry for promising an update and not coming through, but hopefully we'll have a sweet article in National Geo Adventurer complete with the amazing photos that we have and all will be ok!


Cheers for now.

Preping for a mission

Tomorrow, the six-person kayak team is combining forces with a 3-person caving team to execute the mission of our dreams. We are leaving at 8:00 am to drive to the end of the road and then hike in to the town of Tuke that Trip and I previously explored.

In Tuke, we will drop into a sinkhole and descend 1500ft in about 1.5 miles to the mouth of the cave. The mouth is amazing - a huge archway with a gorgeous crystal blue river flowing out. The plan is to drop into the cave at the top, work our way though paddling along the way and then paddle/swim out into daylight.

About 100 meters below the cave exit, the river flows over a series of cascades that are about 800 ft from top to bottom. Trip and I scouted the drops out last week and all of them go except for the last drop of about 50 ft or so.

After the waterfalls, the kayak team will paddle 3 days out to the ocean, where we will be picked up by a freighter and taken back to civilization. The caving team will hike out and we will meet up in time to celebrate the PNG independence holiday on Sept. 15th.

This should be a good one folks; an update and pictures to come when we make it out in 1-2 weeks. Cheers!

PNG land issues

Here in PNG, land rights issues are a bit different than they are in the U.S. If you have read my previous posts, you will notice that we ran into an access issue that threatened to shut down the expedition before it happened. Last night I got to sit down with the local man responsible for mediating and securing access for us. I learned a lot about how things work here and why there was an issue to begin with.

In PNG, there are multiple types of land: There are public lands (govt owned,) privately owned land and customary land. Structurally, it’s very similar to how things are set up in the States, but with one very major difference.

In the States, the westward explorers and the U.S. Govt. decided that it was totally in charge and that they had more right to customary land (land owned by the original inhabitants) than the locals did. So basically, the U.S. Govt., instead of respecting the fact that native people already lived on lands, they pushed through and just took it all. The customary land was taken by force by the U.S. Govt.

Things are different in PNG. There was an imperial presence here and as a result the govt does hold land. This happened on a much smaller scale here than in the U.S. though, so there are also huge tracts of land that is owned and controlled by the subsistence dwellers that have lived here since the beginning. Thus, when the govt wants to expand its holdings, whether it be for logging, mining or otherwise, it has to work it out with the customary owners. If they don’t want their land logged, it doesn’t get logged.

This applies to our expedition because the area we are exploring is on customary land. Lake Hargy and the Nakanai Mountains are rugged areas that have never been logged or farmed because the people, so far, haven’t wanted them to be. In many remote areas of PNG these practices seem very attractive because instead of simply living off of their land, they can make a living off of their land. The environmental consequences are often very serious though, and in many cases the locals are not aware of these consequences. They sign deals for Malaysian logging companies to come in and clear timber and, a year or so later, realize that a clearcut tract isn’t so sweet after all and maybe not worth the small amount of compensation they receive.

The man I sat down with last night explained to the local people that our team will provide very valuable services to them. The scientific side of the team is studying the amazing biodiversity of the area and the kayaking/film team is going to show the world what is here. Ideally, this will open doors for the Nakanai people to make money off their land without having irreversible damage. One proposal involves establishing a permanent research station and sustainable ecotourism destination. Whatever happens, I think the local people have come to understand that we’re here to educate ourselves and help them rather than take advantage of their customary land. So now, everyone’s happy!

Photos

Just to be safe: All photos by yours truly. Any use without permission is not cool.

Thanks!

The Bush

Wow, what a week it’s been. Trip and I just returned from a 6-day exploratory mission to the bush and are nursing wounds caused by hiking all day, every day through dense rainforest.

Our mission had two parts. The first was to hike into Leli and discuss with the locals the waterfalls we had scouted from the air and see if they could take us to them. The second was to go to a cave outside of the town called Snake Cave and retrieve a frog for the scientists back at the Lake Hargy camp. Ralph Cutter is researching the effects of global warming on reptiles and wanted a sample from a cave – someplace less affected by global temperature change.

On Sunday, John G of Hargy Oil Palm drove us 3 hours to the end of the road at a town called Pago. Only in the last year has the road even gone that far – a result of the increasing presence of Malaysian logging companies. From Pago, we hiked all afternoon downhill to the Pandi River, across the river and then up the hill on the other side to the village of Leli. The vertical descent was about 800 ft almost strait down to the river level at about 400 ft above sea level and then about another 900 ft up to the top of the next plateau.

About 5 years ago, a group of U.S. and Canadian missionaries, representing a group called New Tribes, came to Leli to set up an operation. Their goal is to translate the entirety of the Bible to the local Pigeon language so that the people can be “saved.” Not being quite as hearty as the locals, the missionaries built an airstrip in the village so that they could fly in the necessary supplies to create a comfortable oasis in the midst of a very rugged bush community. Our first exposure to the village of Leli came when we emerged from the jungle onto this very out-of-place feature.



We walked down the neatly groomed grass airstrip until we came to the first house. We were greeted by an obviously surprised man who, in English (luckily,) welcomed us to put our bags down and rest. We asked about the missionaries and were told that they had gone back to their countries for a couple of months (somewhat of a disappointment to us, as we had hoped they would help us communicate with the local people.) Luckily, there is a primary school in the village that teaches English, so there were a few
“big men” who spoke English pretty well. After a quick wash and a tour of the village, we returned to the house that had been offered to us to cook dinner and relax. When we broke out the stove to make rice, we got our first taste of what would eventually drive us totally crazy.


Leli


Leli

Since the only way for the locals to get to the nearest town (Navo) is to spend most of a day hiking down to the Pandi, back up the canyon on the other side and down the road about 6 or 8 km, they are isolated from any practical form of trading. Thus, they are a subsistence culture – they live off of what they grow and produce and little else. They have little to no money because they have no practical way of getting goods to market and since there are no roads in to the village, very few people pass through. When Trip and I broke out our potable petrol-powered stove and started cooking, half of the village surrounded us and stared.

As night came, the village “big men” came to us and requested that they sit with us and “tell stories.” We were one of only a very small number of groups of westerners to visit the village and the first to, instead of staying with the missionaries, slept in the house of a local. Never had any outsiders sat with them and explained why they were there. We showed them the aerial photos we had taken of the waterfalls and they immediately knew where they were – a two days’ walk in the village of Tuke. They also knew immediately where Snake Cave was. They agreed to guide us to Tuke and show us the cave, but they wanted something in return. First, they told us that they wanted a DVD player and a screen to watch movies on, something we obviously were not going to be able to carry in or even afford to buy for them. Their next suggestion was clothes for everyone in the village, which again we explained we could not carry in to them. To this, they suggested we charter a plane and just fly in – something we were forced to explain was outside of our very small budget. Finally, after a long and awkward negotiating session we agreed to pay they guides who would take us to Tuke and to Snake Cave.

The next morning we woke up at 5:30 to begin the full days’ walk to Tuke. The very primitive trail was extremely steep, slippery and lined with thorns. Leli and Tuke are only 6.5 miles apart, yet we had a very full day of some of the most challenging hiking I have ever done. It rained on and off the whole day, making the already slippery trail very messy. Along the way we passed through a handful of small villages where very surprised and curious locals greeted us.

We arrived in Tuke in the late afternoon and were greeted by two German missionaries from a group called SSEC. The locals took us on a scouting mission where we not only found spectacular whitewater, but also an amazing cave. In Tuke, as in Leli, Trip and I could not go anywhere or do anything without being stared at by a crowd of very curious locals. We completely understood why we were being stared at, but it was starting to be a bit overwhelming. During a church service conducted by the Germans, we snuck off for a little time by ourselves.

The next morning we woke again at 5:30 to make the hike back to Leli in the rain.

Back in Leli, we cleaned up, had a conference with the local people, ate some dinner and went to bed around 9:00.

Wednesday morning, we ate a quick breakfast and set off to Snake Cave with three local men and a handful of local children. Most of the 2 km hike was very manageable, but as we got closer the trail went completely vertical and instead of hiking we found ourselves down climbing. All the rain made things muddy and extremely slippery, so sections of the “trail” were very very sketchy. We finally got to the bottom and to a huge rock archway that led into a dark cavern full of screeching bats. The local children led the way and Trip and I slogged through the ankle-deep mud after them in search of a frog to capture and take back to Ralph. While we were busy shooting video and hunting for a frog, the locals were busy killing bats with sticks and stuffing them in their pockets. It was strange and a little gross, but we let it slide because we were focused on our mission. After about an hour in the cave, we had our frog ad were ready to climb back up the very steep hill to the trail and walk back to the village.


Snake Cave

Back in Leli, everyone was curious to check out the frog that we had found and hear about how our visit to the cave was. After heading down to the creek to wash the bat crap off of ourselves, we returned to our house to find the children cooking the bats they had killed and eating them. They would take the whole bat and stick it onto hot embers, blow on the embers to generate more heat, cut them open and dig in. It was very gross but made for some pretty interesting photos and video.


Checking out the frog


The catch


Cooking bats


Girl enjoying some bat meat

Wednesday morning we lazily woke up around 6:00, packed our things and hit the trail. Our legs were shredded from so much hiking and our patience short from sliding down steep, slippery trails and being stared at constantly by the locals. We made it back to Pago just after noon and began walking down the road to hitch a ride. We were eventually picked up by a truck that took us to a logging camp, dropped off, then picked up again by another truck that took us to the house of the General Manager of one of Hargy’s other plantations. This morning, he gave us a ride back to our base at Hargy Oil Palm HQ.

And now, we rest and figure out the next plan. On Monday we are going to the local schools to give presentations on the scientific work that is being done and the social contributions we hope to make to the local towns and villages.


Trip shooting...with an audience.


Trip resting...with an audience.

Feet

As apparently, walking for days and days and days in the jungle with wet feet isn’t the best thing to do. Yesterday, when Trip and I were walking down the road with our packs we noticed that our feet were hurting. When we got a chance to stop and take off our shoes, we realized that we had both come down with a classic case of trenchfoot, which involves very painful sores on your feet caused by expended periods of heat, friction and moisture.

They’re getting better though, and a few days of r&r should clear things up nicely.

Just one of the things you have to deal with in the jungle…

Picture of the goods

Gold in them hills

That's right folks, we've found the rediculously sweet whitewater that we came to find. Trip shot some photos of some epic drops when he flew over, but they're on his laptop that isn't currently connected to the Internet. For now, you'll have to make due with a high res Google Earth image.

For those interested in checking this out for yourselves, do a search for Leli in Google Earth.

This is the first kayak expedition to New Britain and it appears as if it is going to be all we hoped it would be. Trip and I are heading out in the next day or so to scout this particular spot out and make contact with the locals and missionaries that will be critical to our success.

Alive and well from PNG

The trip so far has been totally wild.

We flew from PDX to LAX to Nadi, Fiji to Port Moresby, PNG to Hoskins, PNG, where we were picked up by a guy named Bob who owns a “hostel” in Kimbe. The next day, Kyle and Trip went up in a fixed-wing to scout some rivers and give us an idea of where we need to concentrate our efforts. Luckily, the island of New Britain is LOADED with great-looking whitewater and we are stoked to explore.

The next day, we rode in the back of a truck to the trailhead leading to Lake Hargy. A four hour hike in led us to the basecamp established by John Lane and the scientific side of the expedition on the lake’s shore.

Due to spiritual reasons and croc infestation, the lake had very rarely been swum in before and never been boated on before. After a quick ceremony and a chat with the crocs by the resident familial head, Ben, we slid in and went for a paddle. The locals instantly look to the kayaks and began exploring and learning how to paddle and the next day decided to cut down a tree and build their own dugout canoe.


One of the expedition objectives is to explore new areas and discover new underground caves. Yesterday, four of us paddled across the lake, hiked up the first ridge from the lake and peered over the edge into country that has not been touched by man for thousands of years. The hike was super brutal and took us all day, but based on both geology and topography the chances of finding previously undiscovered caves is extremely high. It took us until dark to get back to the lake and we had a SUPER scary night paddle across the lake to basecamp. I was in the dugout canoe with PNG’s version of Rambo who kept spotting crocs and fortunately was able to speak to them in his native language and convince them to leave us alone.

Tomorrow, Trip and I are hitchhiking to the end of the road and then hiking 3 days into a village called Lei Lei. Trip and Kyle saw some clean, stout slides near the village and we are headed in to scout them out. It should be very interesting to head into a village 3 days away from any road. We plan to spend about a week on that mission before heading back to basecamp on Lake Hargy.



From the wilderness,


Andy

My homepage

My Website is now live. Check it out:
http://homepage.mac.com/amaser

Today's the day

Brian just got dropped off at PDX and Trip and I will be making it there in a couple of hours. The amount of gear we have is absolutely completely rediculous - each bag needed to be weighed to make sure it is within our allowance and extra bags will be checked.

I want to send a huge thanks to all of the expedition sponsors:
NRS
Confluence Watersports
Sweet Helmets
Gerber
Magellan
Nemo Tents
Clif Bar
Brunton
National Geographic
Pelican
Adventure Medical Kits
5.10
OTB Footwear
Kokatat
ACR Electronics
Jet Boil
Natural High

There may or may not be updates while we are on New Britain. Internet access is sketchy, but it may exist.


I return on October 7th and then fly to D.C. on October 9th to begin a new project. Updates on that soon...


Cheers.


A Maser

Last minute planning

The last weeks have been super busy with endless logistical problems that need to be resolved and arrangements that need to be made. Almost all of our equipment and gear has shown up in Portland and tomorrow I am packing and shipping the first kayak from PDX to LAX, where it will be picked up by Kyle en route to New Britain. It's finally setting in that this thing is actually happening!

This week I am sending out last minute proposals for equipment we still need and getting all of my personal gear organized. You take for granted all of the things you use on a daily basis when you plan to be self sufficient on the level necessary for this trip. The pile of meds alone is a bit impressive.

The final mission before taking off is Outdoor Retailer in SLC this coming weekend. The huge industry tradeshow is the site of yearly sponsorship meetings, pitches, schmoozing, picking up last minute supplies for the trip and partying with old friends. Maybe a little personal marketing in the employment department as well...

Check out this site with interesting PNG facts and info: http://www.bugbog.com/gallery/gallerypng/pngdoor.html


I've been savoring the last summer days in Hood River. This town is super cool and a prime location for those inclined to shred - whether it be on a board, bike or kayak; powered by wind or gravity. The last few days have been long and filled with great kayaking and downhill biking with plenty of partying at night to leave you exhausted at all times!

It's official

Travel arrangements for the expedition are now made. We leave LAX on Thursday the 16th of August and fly to Fiji, then the Soloman Islands, then to Port Moresby, New Guinea, then to Rabual, New Guinea, then to Hoskins, New Guinea. On Friday, Oct. 5th, we're retracing our steps to Fiji, where we'll spend about a day and a half before making it back to LAX on Sunday the 7th at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Some interesting facts about the area:

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded around 5000 BC.

At 4,884 metres, Puncak Jaya (sometimes called Mount Carstensz) makes New Guinea the world's fourth highest landmass.

Many believe human habitation on the island has been dated to as early as approximately 40,000 BP[1], and first settlement possibly dated back to 60,000 years ago has been proposed. The island is presently populated by very nearly a thousand different tribal groups and a near-equivalent number of separate languages.

With some 786,000 km² of tropical land - less than one-half of one percent (0.5%) of the earth's surface -- New Guinea has an immense ecological value in terms of biodiversity, with between 5 to 10% of the total species on the planet.

A high percentage of New Guinea's species are endemic (found nowhere else), and thousands are still unknown to Western science: probably well over 200,000 species of insect, between 11,000 to 20,000 plant species; over 650 resident bird species, including most species of birds of paradise and bowerbirds, parrots, and cassowaries; over 400 amphibians; 455 butterfly species; marsupials including Bondegezou, Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo, Huon Tree-kangaroo, Long-beaked Echidna, Tenkile, Agile Wallaby, Alpine Wallaby, cuscuses and possums; and various other mammal species.

A central east-west mountain range dominates the geography of New Guinea, over 1600 km in total length. The western half of the island of New Guinea contains the highest mountains in Oceania, rising up to 4884 m high, and ensuring a steady supply of rain from the tropical atmosphere. The tree line is around 4000 m elevation and the tallest peaks contain permanent equatorial glaciers - sadly disappearing due to a changing climate. Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges. Except in high elevations, most areas possess a warm humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season.

Portfolio

I just started laying out the pages of my online portfolio. Any design or layout critique is warmly welcomed!

Good News

The tribe that we were negotiating with in New Britain signed our proposal. Everything is good to go again and on schedule.

Expedition Update

Things have been a little crazy in the expedition planning department these days. First, I got the email (that’s posted below) that basically said that kayaking in the caves (our plan) was suicidal. Then, a couple of days later I got the following e-mail:

Hi all-
It's been a tough week.

John has been in constant communications with various factions in PNG trying to wrangle support from Lamo-Auru Development Corp (the holding company representing Ben Masori's tribe). We faxed a final offer (draft attached) to Mr. Masori and the other tribes. If we don't have a signed agreement in-hand by Tuesday evening (July 17) the expedition will be called off. This has been a totally unexpected and most unfortunate turn of events.

(Basically, what happened is that the tribe decided that they could get away with charging us $30,000 to come and explore in their territory. If we didn't pay and went anyway, the possibility of getting killed was high.)


This is the proposal that was sent:
Dear XXX,

In response to your letter dated June 23, 2007 and faxed on July 7, 2007, I regret that I cannot pay compensation or bond of US $30,000. We are merely an exploratory team that has very limited funding. We consist of a group of scientists and explorers who have a passion for unique and exceptional places in our world. We wish to study the Lake Hargy Area and document the area as a baseline before it changes. Each member of our team has had to pay for their own fare and additionally we have collectively provided personal funds towards achieving our shared goals of this project. Those common funds have been set aside to pay at a reasonable rate for our food, transportation, hire approximately ten carriers, two cooks, and four guides from your contingent. We think the Lake Hargy area and surrounding environment may very well be a unique place worthy of international attention and appreciation.

We also understand that you are the rightful owners of this amazing region and are entitled to any rewards or benefits that its resources may have to offer. In good faith, we offer you the following items as a measure towards what appears to be a common goal:

• Our medical doctor offering a one day health clinic available to every one at no cost.

• A Land Use Recommendation Report

• Copies of all media that is provided to DEC and NHI

• Establish a long term research station at Lake Hargy

• Continue the legacy of Fred Hargesheimer and provide educational and scientific equipment to the community

I feel that by cooperating and joining hands together we can help discover the hidden qualities the Lake Hargy region may offer.


Today (the deadline,) I got a call from Kyle. As of now, the expedition is on. It is slightly smaller than before and we will be exploring slightly different areas. On a high note, The North Face signed on as a supporter of the expedition.



Some images of the area:


New Britain


An area we plan to explore. In the center, top of the photo is the Ulawun volcano, one of the most active volcanos in Papua New Guinea. Just below it is an interesting looking gorge.


Tighter shot of the gorge.

WebTrends

The capstone class of the advertising sequence at the University of Oregon is Ad Campaigns. The class works like this: You submit a resume and cover letter, get assigned to an “agency” and solve a company’s advertising or marketing problem. At the end of the term, each team presents their plan to the client, who picks the winning campaign.

I was chosen as Account Director and along with an Account Planner, Media Planner, Art Director and Copywriter formed the agency Ice Cream 4 Everyone. Days later, representatives from WebTrends, a Web analytics service, briefed us on their business, the state of the industry and the specific problems they needed us to solve. These problems were market saturation and weak branding. Although WebTrends is one of the original Web analytic companies and one that provides exceptional service, a flood of competitors has led to a loss of market share. A week branding strategy meant that they did not stand out from their competitors, even though their service was as good or better.

We began by researching the competitors’ branding strategies and comparing the different services offered by each company. We also talked to Web Administrators and marketing professionals to discover how and why they use Web analytics. What we learned is that the key value that leads people to need Web analytics is efficiency. People value their time highly and inefficiency within the workplace cuts into the company’s bottom line. In Web terms, a Website will be most efficient (and profitable) when it provides exactly what customers want without excessive content that they do not. The best way to discover what customers want from your Website is to monitor which pages they are viewing and which pages lead to sales.

When we stepped back and though about it, what WebTrends does is analyze what your customers have done in the past to help you predict what they may want in the future. So in a weird way, WebTrends helps you predict the future.

Our concept:
Meet Future Guy. Future Guy is a superhero that watches over Web City (your Website) and battles a group of villains known as The Inefficients. Future Guy, like WebTrends is something that understands what it takes to run an efficient, profitable business and is something to stand behind and rely on. The goal is to personify WebTrends as a “hero” that is dedicated to helping your business.

Our media mix was a combination of traditional and non-traditional media carefully selected to most efficiently reach our two target groups: Business decision makers and IT Professionals. We utilized a mix of print and online media and set up a Future Guy Website that funneled visitors to the WebTrends Website. Our calculations showed that our media plan allowed us to achieve an average reach of 62% and an average frequency of 1.52.

Campaign evaluation worked out well because we were able to use WebTrends’ own service to generate metrics to measure ROI. All print and online ads directed people to the Future Guy Website so monitoring traffic allowed us to quantify interest and believability. The number of visitors who continued to WebTrends site after the Future Guy site allowed us to measure how compelled people were by the campaign.

The WebTrends staff was impressed by both our strategy and creative execution. They praised us on comic book/superhero differentiation strategy, out hand-illustrated ads and our evaluation and ROI tactics. Our plan was chosen as the winning plan out of all the other groups of graduating ad students that term.


Some example pages from our campaign planbook:

Raft guiding

This is a job I've never really expected to have, but the last two days I have been raft guiding on the White Salmon. The guys I live with run a raft company so I guess it was only a matter of time.

The first time I ever piloted a raft was with a boat full of customers, so luckily I learned fast! The only drama was a 20-something girl who started crying when she walked down to the river and saw the first rapid. LJ and I eventually talked her into the raft though, and she had a great time.

The section we do is 4 miles long and has about five class 3 and 4 drops. The highlight though, is 10 ft Husum Falls. People love it!



So from now on, if you need a raft guide, I'm your guy.

Fun with Motion

I've been playing with Motion lately, Apple's 3d moving graphics program. I'll throw a few short clips up here over the next couple of weeks.

A bit of strategy

It's not all fun and games in the life of Andrew Maser. This might be a bad exampe though...

This past fall, I was hired by Allen Hall Advertising, the University of Oregon’s student-run, full service ad agency. Still very wet behind the ears, I became the account director for the U of O Alumni Association account. The UOAA wanted to create a group that unified all students, provided networking and career mentoring, hosted fun events and funneled students into the Alumni Assn. post grad.

The first step was to name and brand the group. Having absolutely no experience with things like this, I definitely struggled. All of our ideas had to be approved by a 30-member executive board made up of students. Our team came up with a short list of names, I pitched them to the board and had them absolutely ripped apart. I had exactly the same problem when I pitched the logo and t-shirt designs that our team came up with. Getting that many people to agree on a name and artwork to support the name was literally impossible and horribly frustrating, but in the end we came up with work that they approved.





The next step was to plan a strategic release for the group. After we struggled with the naming and branding phase, the faculty advisor was ready to give the account to someone else. Luckily, we caught wind of this early and I came up with a plan. There was already a long list of student groups on campus, so differentiating this group and getting very high levels of awareness were critical to its success. In a brainstorming session one of our team members started talking about rubber ducks (the U of O’s mascot is the duck) and something clicked in my mind.

After more brainstorming we were ready to pitch the client. Our idea was to launch a 7-week buzz marketing campaign based on 8,000 rubber ducks. A traditional on-campus ad campaign would not do the job; instead of advertising to students, we needed to generate curiosity and have students come to us. The faculty advisor loved our proposal and instead of dropping us, granted us a $5,000 contract.

The hub of the campaign was a Facebook page of The Flight’s new mascot: Fred Flight. We created an entire personality for Fred and started asking people to be his friend and writing on peoples’ walls.





Week one of the campaign was a smashing success. Late one night, our team met up on campus and covered the Memorial Quad with 6,000 rubber ducks with a sticker on them.

The following day, Fred received hundreds of new friends on Facebook and all but about 100 of the ducks were taken by students.

Facebook proved to be a better medium than any of us could have ever predicted. Throughout the campaign we constantly prompted students to interact with Fred via his Facebook profile and constantly they responded positively. We held a spring break photo contest and got dozens of entries. When Fred’s friends had birthdays, we wrote on their walls and they often wrote back. People, unprompted, started posting photos of themselves and Fred hanging out on the weekends.






Each week, we launched another prank-style guerrilla tactic to keep peoples’ attention. Some favorites include parachuting 100 rubber ducks on unsuspecting students at high traffic times and organizing a scavenger hunt complete with prizes. Throughout the campaign our Flight Mobiles were constantly cruising around campus to keep peoples’ attention.

This video of the Paraduck prank was shot by a student and posted on Facebook:

Notice the quick shot the remote controlled Flight Duck.

The campaign was more successful than I could have ever dreamed. Our goal was simply to raise awareness, but immediately students wanted to sign up and join The Flight. Presently, Fred has over 300 friends on Facebook and The Flight has over 150 paid members.